Through the medium of photography I examine how emotions and memories are captured in photographs representing reality in symbols. I believe that feeling is crucial to creating and understanding a work of art. Thus I am driven by visceral and emotional responses to the process of seeing.

I see nature as the first and most fundamental source of essence and myth and I am inspired by both its beauty and nourishment, as well as its unpredictability and fierceness, while birds are universal symbols of hope, freedom, and migration. The emotional ramifications of my own displacement and diaspora relate to how I feel towards nature. I am always in flux and on a journey to find a place to call home.

I developed a way to make in-camera double exposures and create immersive large-scale panoramic images. The subtly abstract quality of this technique serves as a visceral interpretation of the ephemeral nature of human experience and thus is connected to my personal experience of immigration.

My interest in the aesthetic relationship between photography and other disciplines influences my whimsical approach. I intend to push the limits of the medium to suggest painterly abstractions. I employ tilt-shift lenses because they allow room for spontaneity and often help reveal the unseen. The resulting deviations lead me to new discoveries. I enjoy the extemporaneous quality of these processes and view my practice as an extension of seeing and an exercise of instinct and connectivity.

Biography

Raised in communist Ukraine, Lyakir developed a passion for photography as a young child. Soviet cinematography and historical family photographs inspired her to pick up a camera when she was only seven. In 1990 she immigrated to the U.S. with her family, seeking political asylum, and shortly thereafter migrated to New York City.

Inspired by the ‘90s art scene, Lyakir took courses in photography and film studies at the Museum School of Fine Arts. Yet her experiences with oppressive authority in communist Ukraine eventually motivated her to continue pursuing her art through independent research, collaborations and experimentation in the dark room.

Lyakir’s work is included in private and corporate collections. She has exhibited in galleries and at art fairs in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Paris, London, Berlin, Lille, Sydney, and Istanbul. She has been commissioned to decorate walls of restaurants, hotels, and high end retail shops in New York City and around the globe. Lyakir lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.